Parkside update: ‘Direct action’ training Sunday, TRC meeting Monday

In an 11th-hour reversal, the city of Asheville’s Technical Review Committee will now vote on the controversial Parkside project on Monday.

Wednesday, WLOS reported that, due to concerns over how the development would deal with stormwater runoff, city staff would ask TRC to delay the hearing by two weeks. Now city staffers have changed their minds.

“The recommendation yesterday was to continue, but we’ve resolved that concern now, so we expect a decision [on Monday],” Interim Planning Director Shannon Tuch, noting that the item had never been formally taken off the agenda.

The change, coming just before the July Fourth holiday, has attracted the ire of activists who oppose the project. Activist and blogger Gordon Smith, who found out about the reversal in an e-mail from city planner Alan Glines, criticized the move on his Scrutiny Hooligans blog.

“For a project that has been so sharply criticized to move ahead when the public labors under the misconception that the hearing will be continued is to invite more outrage and more suspicion,” Smith wrote, calling on the city “to reschedule the Parkside hearing for a date and time when the public can attend.”

TRC will vote on the project, but can only use technical concerns in making their decision. The meeting is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Monday in the first-floor conference room of Asheville City Hall.

In another development, residents announced a 3 p.m. training session Sunday to prepare residents for a “direct action campaign” aimed at stopping the Parkside project. The public is invited to the meeting, which will be held under the magnolia tree on Pack Square Park.

“The training will be to orientate people to non-violent civil disobedience,” Asheville resident Richard Koerber said in an interview Thursday. “The strategy is still being worked out. It’s going to be creative, and some of it is going to happen without prior notification.”

Koerber said he learned direct action techniques at the hands of some of the original Freedom Riders of the Civil Rights Movement and as a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War. Frank T. Adams, former director of the Highlander Research and Education Center, an organization specializing in grassroots organizing, will also assist with the training, Koerber said.

“An escalating sense of urgency looms as the date for the city of Asheville’s Technical Review Committee meeting approaches,” Adams said in a news release.

Koerber said the aim is to set a tone of “respect and determination” to stop the condo project.

The parkland should remain in the hands of the public, Koerber said, and government leaders should pursue the option of eminent domain. “In many ways, it’s the fairest way to correct this, in my estimation,” Koerber said.

— David Forbes, staff writer and Jason Sandford, multimedia editor

SHARE

Thanks for reading through to the end…

We share your inclination to get the whole story. For the past 25 years, Xpress has been committed to in-depth, balanced reporting about the greater Asheville area. We want everyone to have access to our stories. That’s a big part of why we've never charged for the paper or put up a paywall.

We’re pretty sure that you know journalism faces big challenges these days. Advertising no longer pays the whole cost. Media outlets around the country are asking their readers to chip in. Xpress needs help, too. We hope you’ll consider signing up to be a member of Xpress. For as little as $5 a month — the cost of a craft beer or kombucha — you can help keep local journalism strong. It only takes a moment.

About Webmaster
Mountain Xpress Webmaster Follow me @MXWebTeam

Before you comment

The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.

4 thoughts on “Parkside update: ‘Direct action’ training Sunday, TRC meeting Monday

  1. Stewart Coleman has done us all a backhanded favor by exposing the deep flaws in the city ‘s development “approval process” (all too aptly named!). We now know that final approval for horrors like the Staples building and Parkside rests in the hands of non-elected technocrats who bend over backwards to allow every development to proceed.

    Each member of TRC is allowed to look only at one piece of the elephant — never the whole. And they override even their own rare objections to grant “approval with conditions.” Yet they operate by consensus: Any one member could block that consensus and Just Say No!

    Parkside is the latest proof that the UDO needs to be overhauled so that City Council, not the TRC, has final say over Level I and II as well as Level III developments. (Another reform would be to ensure that developers have the financing to complete their projects before they even start wasting taxpayer dollars on this lengthy and stressful approval process — witness the disappearing “Horizons” project that was supposed to be built on the Deal Motors property.)

  2. JDNC

    I expect Boss Hog to show up any minute. He has to be the mastermind behind this fiasco.

  3. William P Miller

    Not Boss Hog, more like the old democrat big city machine. Tamany Hall or Chicago’s Daily.

Leave a Reply

To leave a reply you may Login with your Mountain Xpress account, connect socially or enter your name and e-mail. Your e-mail address will not be published. All fields are required.